Genesis 1:3-31

Genesis 1:3-31

[3] And God  said,  Let there be  light:  [4] And God  saw  the light,  that  it was good:  and God  divided  the light  from  the darkness.  [5] And God  called  the light  Day,  and the darkness  he called  Night.  And the evening  and the morning  were the first  day.  [6] And God  said,  Let there be a firmament  in the midst  of the waters,  and let it divide  the waters  [7] And God  made  the firmament,  and divided  the waters  which  were under  the firmament  from the waters  which  were above  the firmament:  and it was so.  [8] And God  called  the firmament  Heaven.  And the evening  and the morning  were the second  day.  [9] And God  said,  Let the waters  under the heaven  be gathered together  unto  one  place,  and let the dry  land appear:  [10] And God  called  the dry  land Earth;  and the gathering together  of the waters  called  he Seas:  and God  saw  that it was good.  [11] And God  said,  Let the earth  bring forth  grass,  the herb  yielding  seed,  and the fruit  tree  yielding  fruit  after his kind,  whose  seed  is in itself, upon the earth:  and it was so. [12] And the earth  brought forth  grass,  and herb  yielding  seed  after his kind,  and the tree  yielding  fruit,  whose seed  was in itself, after his kind:  and God  saw  that it was good.  [13] And the evening  and the morning  were the third  day.  [14] And God  said,  Let there be lights  in the firmament  of the heaven  to divide  the day  from the night;  and let them be for signs,  and for seasons,  and for days,  and years:  [15] And let them be for lights  in the firmament  of the heaven  to give light  upon the earth:  [16] And God  made  two  great  lights;  the greater  light  to rule  the day,  and the lesser  light  to rule  the night:  he made the stars  [17] And God  set  them in the firmament  of the heaven  to give light  upon the earth,  [18] And to rule  over the day  and over the night,  and to divide  the light  from the darkness:  and God  saw  that it was good.  [19] And the evening  and the morning  were the fourth  day.  [20] And God  said,  Let the waters  bring forth abundantly  the moving creature  that hath  life,  and fowl  that may fly  above  the earth  in the open  firmament  of heaven.  [21] And God  created  great  whales,  and every living  creature  that moveth,  which the waters  brought forth abundantly,  after their kind,  and every winged  fowl  after his kind:  and God  saw  that it was good.  [22] And God  blessed  them, saying,  Be fruitful,  and multiply,  and fill  the waters  in the seas,  and let fowl  multiply  in the earth.  [23] And the evening  and the morning  were the fifth  day.  [24] And God  said,  Let the earth  bring forth  the living  creature  after his kind,  cattle,  and creeping thing,  and beast  of the earth  after his kind:  [25] And God  made  the beast  of the earth  after his kind,  and cattle  after their kind,  and every thing that creepeth  upon the earth  after his kind:  and God  saw  that it was good.  [26] And God  said,  Let us make  man  in our image,  after our likeness:  and let them have dominion  over the fish  of the sea,  and over the fowl  of the air,  and over the cattle,  and over all the earth,  and over every creeping thing  that creepeth  upon the earth.  [27] So God  created  man  in his own image,  of God  created  he him; male  and female  created  [28] And God  blessed  them, and God  said  unto them, Be fruitful,  and multiply,  and replenish  the earth,  and subdue it:  and have dominion  over the fish  of the sea,  and over the fowl  of the air,  and over every living thing  that moveth  upon the earth.  [29] And God  said,  Behold,  I have given  you every herb  bearing  seed,  which is upon the face  of all the earth,  and every tree,  in the which is the fruit  of a tree  yielding  seed;  to you it shall be  for meat.  [30] And to every beast  of the earth,  and to every fowl  of the air,  and to every thing that creepeth  upon the earth,  wherein there is life,  I have given every green  herb  for meat:  and it was so. [31] And God  saw  every thing that  he had made,  and, behold, it was very  good.  And the evening  and the morning  were the sixth  day. 

What does Genesis 1:3-31 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

Cosmic order consists of clearly demarcating the various elements of the universe. God divided light and darkness, waters and dry land, the world above from the world below. Likewise people should maintain the other divisions in the universe. [1] In three "days" God made the uninhabitable earth productive, and in three more "days" He filled the uninhabited earth with life. The process of creation, as Moses described it, typically follows this pattern for each day of creation: announcement, commandment, separation, report, naming, evaluation, and chronological framework. [2]
One writer sought to retain six literal days of creation and to harmonize them with an old age earth model, allowing a long period of time (possibly billions of years) between Genesis 1:2-3. [3] However, this explanation does violence to the Hebrew text. [4]